1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices for urging either foodstuff or ice cubes into a receptacle of a food and beverage blender and more particularly to a tamping and stirring rod for use in conjunction with a receptacle of a food and beverage blender wherein the tamping and stirring rod is loosely coupled to the top cover of the receptacle in such a manner that it can contact the sidewalls of the receptacle without being able to contact the rotating blades thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 3,895,548, entitled Blender Packing Device, issued to Delsford B. Sauve on July 22, 1975, teaches a blender packing device for urging food matter into a blender which includes a first generally planar elongated blade which has a plurality of transversely extending fins and a second generally planar elongaged blade which has a plurality of transversely extending fins. The first and second generally planar blades are fixedly coupled at right angles to each other. The blades are preferrable formed out of a plastic material such as a Plexiglass or a Lucite. The prior art for this patent includes a plunger device which U.S. Pat. No. 1,412,536 teaches and which has a generally rounded head for urging foodstuff into a meat grinder. The plunger device has not been particularly suitable for use in a blender since its relatively massive nature tends to bend the relatively light blades which are typically used in a blender. The blender packing device facilitates the urging of foodstuff into the blender without damagaging its blades and also enables its operator to have maximum visibility of its blades and the blender packing device which he is using.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,346,029, entitled Safety Spatula for Food Blender, issued to William B. Harris, Jr. on Oct. 10, 1967, teaches a safety spatula for use in conjunction with a food to tamp and stir food which the food blender is processing. In the processing of foods in a food blender it is common practice to employ an ordinary spatula having a rubber-covered end portion for tamping and stirring the food as supplied to the food blender whereby the food is advanced downwardly in the receptacle of the food blender in opposing relation while at the same time scraping the food from the sides of the receptable to promote the comminuting and mixing action of the revolving blades which are formed out of hardened steel and are rotated at high speeds. Care must be used to prevent the spatula from getting too close to the spinning blades or either damage to the blades and spatula or personal injury to the operator of the food blender may occur.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,757,909, entitled Agitator Device for a Mixer, issued to Joseph C. Wayne on Aug. 7, 1956, teaches an agitator device for use in conjunction with a food mixer so that the food mixer can disintegrate relatively hard materials such as ice cubes in the absence of appreciable amounts of liquid. Without the use of the agitator device hard ice cubes or the like merely bounced on top of the rotating blades of the food mixer.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,088,345, entitled Kitchen Utensil, issued to Homer C. Campbell on May 7, 1963, teaches a kitchen utensil for use in combination with an automatic garbage disposer. The kitchen utensil is used to force waste material into the automatic garbage disposer. The kitchen utensil is constructed so as to be incapable of contacting disposer blades or other moving parts therein thereby preventing both injury to users and damage to the disposer blades while effectively forcing the waste material into the automatic garbage disposer.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,765,275, entitled Garbage Grinder Stuffer, issued to Charles W. Johnsen on Oct. 16, 1973, teaches a stuffer for feeding waste material to a garbage grinder which has a central neck and stuffer and handhold elements on the ends thereof. The stuffer is an integral member formed out of a plastic material.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,066,997, entitled Tamping Implement, issued to Ottilie Mueller on Jan. 5, 1937, teaches a tamping implement which includes an elongated member, a tamping head which is mechanically coupled to the elongated member and an operating handle which is mechanically coupled to the elongated member and which conveniently manipulates the tamping head inside a fruit jar or the like.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,480,914, 2,758,623, 2,771,111, 3,537,691 and 3,820,692 are patents which teach blenders.